{"id":83776,"date":"2020-07-11T08:13:11","date_gmt":"2020-07-11T12:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sunlightradio.com\/?p=83776"},"modified":"2020-07-11T08:13:11","modified_gmt":"2020-07-11T12:13:11","slug":"the-preaching-politician-good-trouble-documentary-follows-john-lewis-from-fields-of-alabama-to-halls-of-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sunlightradio.com\/the-preaching-politician-good-trouble-documentary-follows-john-lewis-from-fields-of-alabama-to-halls-of-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"The preaching politician: \u2018Good Trouble\u2019 documentary follows John Lewis from fields of Alabama to halls of Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"
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 <\/div>\n
John Lewis, center right, with fellow protesters on Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965, in \u201cJohn Lewis: Good Trouble,\u201d a Magnolia Pictures release. \u00a9 Spider Martin. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before he was a Democratic congressman and before he was a civil rights activist, Rep. John Lewis preached to the chickens on his family\u2019s farm as a young boy.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a story staffers of Lewis can repeat by heart because they\u2019ve heard it so many times.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey would bow their heads; they would shake their heads,\u201d he recounts in footage from an appearance at a Houston church in the new documentary \u201cJohn Lewis: Good Trouble<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey never quite said \u2018Amen,\u2019 but they tended to listen to me much better than some of my colleagues on the other side listen to me today in the Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dawn Porter, director of \u201cJohn Lewis: Good
\nTrouble,\u201d a Magnolia Pictures release. \u00a9
\nHenny Garfunkel. Photo courtesy of Magnolia
\nPictures<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The documentary, presented through a partnership including Magnolia Pictures and CNN Films, traces the journey of Lewis, now 80, from the fields of Alabama to the halls of Congress. The film portrays how Lewis was shaped by his faith and guided by religious leaders such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Rev. James Lawson<\/a>, two advocates for nonviolent civil rights action.<\/p>\n

\u201cFaith is an integral part of Mr. Lewis\u2019 life but also part of his activism,\u201d said Dawn Porter, director of the documentary, who filmed the congressman for more than a year starting shortly before the 2018 election.<\/p>\n

Though he is a politician rather than a preacher per se, Lewis considers politics to be his calling, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe started preaching to chickens and now in many ways even though he\u2019s a layperson he preaches to us,\u201d she said of the man with a seminary degree as well as a bachelor\u2019s degree in religion and philosophy. \u201cThat is part of the reason why people find it so motivating and so comforting when he speaks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 96-minute documentary, which is to be released on demand<\/a> and in select theaters on Friday (July 3), includes what has become Lewis\u2019 mantra in its title.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy philosophy is very simple,\u201d he says in the film, which is also expected to air on CNN in late September. \u201cWhen you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, say something. Do something. Get in trouble. Good trouble. Necessary trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n